April 21-23

Terrestrial & Aquatic Biomes Exploration 🌎🌊🌲

📅 Completed: April 21-23

Over two days, students explored the major terrestrial and aquatic biomes found on Earth. Through notes, visuals, and creative assignments, they learned how climate, geography, and location shape the plants, animals, and ecosystems that call each biome home.

🌿 Terrestrial Biomes Covered:

Students completed guided notes and illustrated examples of organisms for each of the following biomes:

• Desert – Hot or cold, low rainfall, plants like cacti and animals adapted for dry conditions

• Chaparral – Coastal, dry summers, fire-adapted plants like scrub oak and sage

• Savanna – Tropical grasslands with seasonal rains, home to herds of grazers and big predators

• Prairie – Nutrient-rich soil, mostly grasses, supports grazing animals and birds of prey

• Tundras (Arctic, Antarctic, Alpine) – Cold, windy, little vegetation, animals with thick fur or special adaptations

• Coniferous Forest (Taiga) – Evergreen trees, long winters, supports moose, wolves, and hardy plant life

• Temperate Deciduous Forest – Four seasons, rich soil, supports deer, foxes, insects, and broadleaf trees

• Tropical Rainforest – Hot and rainy, layered vegetation, most biodiverse ecosystem on land

Students illustrated each biome by drawing one plant and two animals, focusing on adaptations to climate and geography.

🌊 Aquatic Biomes Covered:

Students also took notes and created visual models for the following aquatic biomes:

🔹 Freshwater Biomes

• Rivers & Streams – Constantly moving water, species adapted to current, like otters and fish with strong fins

• Lakes & Ponds – Still or slow-moving freshwater, home to fish, amphibians, and floating plants

• Wetlands – Saturated land, rich in biodiversity, critical for water filtration and flood prevention
  
  

🔹 Marine Biomes

• Estuaries – Where rivers meet oceans; brackish water; important for bird nesting and nursery habitats

• Intertidal Zones (Beaches) – Changing tides shape this ecosystem; home to burrowing organisms and dune plants

• Coral Reefs – Warm, shallow oceans filled with colorful fish, coral polyps, and symbiotic algae

• Open Ocean – Vast, deep saltwater divided into light zones (euphotic, twilight, and aphotic); home to whales, sharks, anglerfish, and plankton
  
  

🧠 Reflection Questions & Creative Thinking:

Throughout the activities, students were asked to reflect on:

• Why preserving biomes is important

• What happens when species are moved to the wrong biome

• How human activity (like pollution or deforestation) impacts biodiversity

• How to reduce individual impact on fragile ecosystems
  
  

Fantastic work exploring the diversity of life across Earth’s ecosystems! 🌎🧬🌧️🐠